when kathy and susan of bella weddings asked me to meet with an nba client of theirs, i was excited but of course super nervous...i went to meet brian and victoria at their oceanfront home and was blown away by how sweet and down to earth they were! it was an instant chemistry between designer and client...i live for those moments :)

victoria told me the color turquoise held special meaning for her and that she wanted to combine it with purple for a day that was bright and vibrant (which to me, is SO indicative of her personality)...with the ballroom at trump national golf club being formal and elegant, we wanted to keep with that vibe somewhat but we also wanted to make the day FUN! so i think what we came up with held true to their traditional venue but was also modern, colorful and glamorous at the same time...

bridesmaids bouquets were composed of "picasso" mini cala lilies wrapped in a purple and teal cuff and adorned with a turquoise brooch...

flower girl "purses" of turquoise dupioni silk, a double band of purple and teal satin ribbon and a rhinestone finish...

victoria's bouquet was made entirely of white phalenopsis orchids (my fave) and the stems were wrapped in ivory satin, rhinestone trim and crystal appliques...

here brian is pictured with some of his groomsmen, which included fellow nba players luke walton, kareem rush and richard jefferson...

ring bearer "pillows" were made of all eggplant carnations, tied up with turquoise ribbon...

the ceremony had amazing views of the pacific ocean...

b and v just look so happy here...they're physically glowing!

of course they had a purple specialty cocktail!

placecards were lined up in a 6' tray wrapped in turquoise dupioni silk and a band of eggplant satin ribbon...the tray was then filled with white crushed glass and fuschia phalenopsis orchid blooms...

when i first met with the couple, brian had only 1 rule about the flowers - he didn't want the centerpieces to look like a "brain"...i laughed so hard when he said this and i totally stole that word to describe the "poofball" arrangements normally seen in ballroom weddings...

so i did something i call "flower-blocking"...which is when i group 1 type of flower together in 1 particular area of the arrangement...so i had a group of fuschia roses next to a group of plum tulips...and then eggplant mini cala lilies next to purple mokara orchids, etc...i finished the whole piece with a cascade of fuschia hanging amaranthus and phalenopsis orchids spilling over the side of the vase...

overall there was tons of texture and tons of color but it was asymmetrical and irregular to keep it from looking too tight, perfect and "brain-like" :)

the head table was with glass vases, varying in shape, and filled with 1 type of purple, eggplant or fuschia theme flower...plus turquoise crushed glass and tons of floating candles and votives...

every napkin was wrapped in a band of eggplant satin ribbon and finished with a fuschia orchid bloom...

for the cake we used my tall acrylic base and filled it with hanging turquoise crystals and fuschia + purple "floating" mokara orchid blooms...then we stacked a smaller acrylic base on top and filled it with white crushed glass and fuschia phalenopsis orchids...

all white phalenopsis orchid arrangements lined the mantle...

the couple invested in "intelligent lighting" - which basically changes colors as the evening goes on...so the room started off fuschia, moved into purple and finished the night in turquoise! pretty nifty huh?

victoria surprised brian with a killer groom's cake, shaped like a basketball and covered in the logos of all the nba teams brian has played for, along with his numbers...